Month: August 2009

Classes began this week at Cal and all three newcomers — JC transfer Markhuri Sanders-Frison and freshmen Bak Bak and Brandon Smith — are present and accounted for. Not that there was any question they’d be on campus, but an athletic department official confirmed it.

The Golden Bears open their season in 75 days, on Nov. 9 at home against Murray State.

Here’s a link to Cal’s official team roster (although it mistakenly says 2008-09).

You can almost count tonight as the unofficial beginning of the season. It was the first regular season practice of the season, as the Bears broke into scout teams and began installing the game plan for Maryland.

Lost in the shuffle of the quarterback news yesterday was the fact that training camp came unofficially to a close following a helmet-only walkthrough-type practice. Officially, camp ends Saturday with a morning practice followed by Fan Appreciation Day, but when the Bears return to practice after a day off today, it will mark the beginning of game week preparation for Maryland.

This is my third season covering Cal and this is the most content and confident I can remember Jeff Tedford at this juncture of training camp.

Tedford has used the past couple of practices to go heavy on game situations, almost putting his players through a dress rehearsal for the season. And he’s decided to forgo Monday’s final scrimmage for another dress rehearsal in helmets only.